


Adam

by szm



Series: Daredevil Kink Meme [2]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Gen, mentions of behavioural disorders, mentions of child abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-05
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-04-07 19:39:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4275519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/szm/pseuds/szm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based off this prompt - </p><p>After he leaves Matt, Stick takes on other students, teaching them like he did Matt. Matt finds out when one of them, maybe a particularly young one ("You're a kid, what do you think you're doing?" Matt protests), takes up vigilantism in Hell's Kitchen. Cue the brother hen.</p><p>"You're bleeding out on my fire escape, get in here so I can fix you."</p><p>"So you've got school, then homework and then vigilantism. When are you sleeping exactly?"</p><p>Bonus if he complains to Foggy or Claire and receives no sympathy. ("NOW YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS, MURDOCK.")</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adam

He told Matt his name was Adam. Which was a lie, but the man in a mask with devil horns could hardly call him on it. 

**

When Matt first came across him he was fighting a group of young men twice the size of him who had been menacing a young girl. She’d run off and ‘Adam’ was left in a ring of people who wanted to pound him into the ground. Matt was about to intercede when it became obvious that the kid didn’t need his help. The first guy went down in seconds, which gave the other four a reason to hesitate, which gave ‘Adam’ an opening, using a move that Matt recognised as one Stick had taught him years ago (broke his wrist teaching it to him actually) Adam flipped the largest man on his back, twisting his arm with a vicious air of triumph. The man on the floor cried out in pain and the others ran. 

Matt dropped silently behind the kid, clearing his throat to announce his presence. The kids heartbeat jumped but to his credit otherwise he didn’t show any surprise at all. “So what are you going to do now?” asked Matt.

The kid let the man go. The man stumbled out of the alley clutching his very probably broken arm. The kid turned back towards Matt dropping easily into a fighting stance.

“Whoa,” said Matt holding his hands up. “I’m not gonna fight you kid, what are you 12?”

“15,” said the kid suspiciously, not dropping his guard. “Why are you here then?”

That was the truth Matt could tell, but the kid was small for his age. “Wanted to make sure you didn’t kill that guy,” said Matt honestly.

The kid snorted. “He wasn’t worth it.”

“Some people are?” asked Matt. 

The kid seemed uncomfortable answering that. “We’re in a war, you have to accept death as a part of that.”

Matt gritted his teeth at the words. “Well that was straight out of Stick’s mouth.”

That made the kid drop his stance, there was something like panic in his voice. “I’m not going back there!”

“Hey,” said Matt trying to be soothing. “I swear I am the last person in the world who would make you.”

The kid relaxed a little, although Matt didn’t think he believed him completely. “So… I’m gonna go now?” he said straightening up and taking a step backwards.

“Okay,” said Matt. “But look, if you ever need anything contact a law firm called ‘Nelson and Murdock’, they can get hold of me.”

“You have lawyers?” asked the kid incredulously.

Matt just smirked in return. “You have a name?” he asked instead of answering.

“Adam,” lied the kid before turning and running.

Matt could have followed him but he didn’t think it would help. He was sure he’d run into ‘Adam’ again.

**

And he did. Often. Adam seemed to be out as much a Matt was, if not more. Matt tended to call it patrolling and Adam called it hunting which was disturbing on a couple of levels.

It wasn’t until their third meeting that Matt realised that Adam wasn’t blind. He’s just assumed he was because of the Stick connection. 

“Adam duck!” shouted Matt across the warehouse as the third man swung a terrifyingly large sword at Adam’s head. Adam dropped as soon as he heard Matt shout sweeping his leg as he did so knocking his attacker down, Matt heard the sword break. Once the fight had finished Adam asked Matt if he knew where the sword was.

“It’s there,” said Matt, confused. “Broken into two pieces, they kinda hum actually, and they’re a bit warmer than the room.”

Adam sighed. “I can’t see them, just the hilt, the blade’s invisible or something. Stick always told me not to rely on my sight.” He put on a pretty good impression of Sticks voice. “Sight’ll fool ya, every time. Don’t trust what you see. You can do without it. Trust me, kid.”

“Well I manage without,” said Matt. There was some tarpaulin in the corner he could wrap the broken sword pieces in. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with them but he could hardly leave them here if no-one else could sense them.

“Yeah,” agreed Adam. “I guess you can’t see a lot through the mask, huh?”

“That, and I’m blind,” said Matt casually. “Give me a hand with this will you?”

Adam crossed over to the pile of tarpaulin. “No way! Like Stick?”

“Not exactly like Stick,” said Matt. “But close. I can do some stuff he can’t. He can do some stuff I can’t. I assumed you were blind too actually. That’s how I met Stick. The orphanage brought him in as a ‘mentor’ to help me cope with being blind.” Matt forced himself to keep his voice casual even though he really didn’t feel like reliving that part of his life. 

Adam went quiet. Between them they managed to find a piece small enough to transport and Matt carefully wrapped the broken sword in it. He could feel Adam watching him, he had more to say but Matt knew better than to ask. 

“I’m an orphan too,” said Adam. “I was… well the nicest thing I got called was the EBD kid.”

“EBD?” asked Matt.

“Emotional Behavioural Disorder,” clarified Adam. His voice had taken on a disconnected quality. Like he didn’t want to think too hard about what he was remembering either. “Stick was supposed to help me with my ‘anger issues’.”

“Did he?” asked Matt carefully.

“I guess, at the very least I learnt to hide it enough that I could get fostered and get the hell away from him.” Adam glanced round the warehouse, suddenly seeming nervous. “I gotta go.”

“Okay, see you round,” said Matt to Adam’s retreating back.

**

He told Foggy about Adam when Foggy caught him researching foster families in Hell’s Kitchen. It was a relief to pour out to Foggy all the worry and concern. Foggy was not sympathetic.

Well he was sympathetic towards Adam, just not Matt.

“Horrible isn’t it? Watching someone throw themselves into all that violence and not being able to help. Worrying about what going to happen to them, what they might do. Wondering if they’d even tell you if it all went horribly wrong…” said Foggy staring straight at Matt the whole time.

“I’d tell you,” said Matt, feeling more hurt than he was probably entitled to. “I’m telling you about this.”

Foggy doesn’t say ‘because I caught you’ but Matt is pretty sure he’s thinking it. 

“So what are you going to do?” asked Foggy seriously.

Matt sighed. “I don’t know. I could anonymously report that the kid has been running around the city at night, but then they would send him back to the orphanage, maybe even straight back to Stick and he’s pretty adamant he doesn’t want that.”

“Yeah,” said Foggy rubbing the back of his neck. “If they believed you, and if they could find him… I can’t believe this guy keeps abusing vulnerable kids like this and doesn’t get caught.”

Matt stayed quiet. What Stick had done to Adam was awful but it wasn’t like he’d abused _Matt_. Before he met Stick his senses had been killing him. Stick gave him control, he was thankful for that at least. Even if he disagreed with Stick’s worldview.

**

Foggy met Adam a few weeks later. He turned up on the fire escape outside Matt’s window with a hell of a thump. Foggy opened the window and held out a slice of the pizza he’d been eating. 

“You must be Adam?” he asked. Adam took the pizza and Foggy backed off. “You might wanna come in. It’s supposed to rain soon.”

Adam stared at the pizza in his hand as if he wasn’t sure what to do with it. “This is supposed to be where Matt Murdock lives?”

“It is,” Foggy assured him. “You just missed him. He ran out about 10 minutes ago. Probably looking for you.”

“As Daredevil?” asked Adam, nasty edge to his voice. Probably looking for a rise from Foggy. Foggy smirked to himself. He had a younger sister and a truckload of younger cousins, not to mention being Matt Murdock’s best friend for years. The kid would have to do better than that. 

“Yep,” said Foggy popping the ‘p’ sound. “You figured it out, huh? He said you were pretty smart.”

“He told me if I needed help to go to Nelson and Murdock. Then he told me he was blind, so is Matthew Murdock. It wasn’t hard to figure out,” said Adam, he looked over his shoulder. “I should go.”

Foggy didn’t think he looked like he wanted too. “You should go home and do your homework, then get some sleep,” said Foggy using his best strict voice. The one that never worked on Matt. “But hell, its Friday night and I don’t mind sharing my pizza.”

Adam looked at the pepperoni pizza slice in his hand. “I’m a vegetarian.”

Foggy shrugged. “You can eat Matt’s pizza then, serves him right for abandoning me.”

Adam climbed in the window. “Are you and he… er…” he trailed off.

Foggy had heard variations of that question for years but decided to go easy on the kid. “We’re law partners, best friends, hell, probably soulmates at this point. But no we’re not… _er_ …”. Foggy pushed the second pizza box across the table. “Now sit down and eat, yeah?”

**

When Matt got home Adam was asleep on the couch with an old blanket covering him. Foggy was pulling his coat on. 

“He told me he has to be home before his foster mother gets in from the night shift. That’s 6am,” said Foggy.

“You’re leaving,” asked Matt feeling disappointed, he hadn’t meant to be gone this long.

“I didn’t mind babysitting your little brother,” said Foggy with a grin. “He’s cute.”

“I heard that,” came a sleepy rumble from the couch.

“Lies,” Foggy called back. “You are asleep, you can’t hear anything!”

Adam didn’t respond, seeming to fall back to sleep quickly, despite the glare of the sign outside. Foggy hugged Matt and Matt held on a little too long like always, but neither of them mentioned it. 

“You should stay,” said Matt. “It’s dangerous out, you can take the bed. I’ll get Adam home and take the couch?”

Foggy looked like he was going to argue but then nodded. 

“You two are kind of ridiculous,” murmured Adam, too quiet for Foggy to hear. Matt kicked the couch on his way past.


End file.
